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Director's Notes
Program notes from King Lear director, Tim Ocel
“We wish that we could pass this play over and say nothing about it. All that we can say must fall far short of the subject; or even of what we ourselves conceive of it. To attempt to give a description of the play itself or of its effect upon the mind, is mere impertinence: yet we must say something. — It is then the best of all Shakespeare’s plays, for it is the one in which he was the most in earnest. He was here fairly caught in the web of his own imagination. The passion which he has taken as his subject is that which strikes its root deepest into the human heart; of which the bond is the hardest to be unloosed; and the cancelling and tearing to pieces of which gives the greatest revulsion to the frame. This depth of nature, this force of passion, this tug and war of the elements of our being, this firm faith in filial piety . . . this is what Shakespeare has given, and what nobody else but he could give.”
William Hazlitt, Characters of Shakespeare's Plays (1817)
"The power of Edgar's distrubing statement
'We that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long'
Edgar - King Lear 5.3
– a statement that rings like a half-open question – is that it carries no moral overtones at all. He does not suggest for one moment that youth or age, seeing or not seeing, are in any way superior, inferior, more desirable or less desirable one than the other. In fact we are compelled to face a play which refuses all moralizing – a play which we begin to see not as a narrative any longer, but as a vast, complex, coherent poem designed to study the power and the emptiness of nothing – the positive and negative aspects latent in the zero.”
Peter Brook, The Empty Space (1968)
William Hazlitt describes King Lear perfectly; Peter Brook gives it a point-of-view: “[a] poem designed to study the power and emptiness of nothing.” It’s as if Brook were describing Samuel Becket’s plays: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Happy Days, Krapp’s Last Tape . . .
Tim Ocel, Director (APT 2024)
"Never, never, never, never, never."
Lear - King Lear 5.3
- Tim Ocel, Director of King Lear
Portable Prologues Podcast
Host Orange Schroeder talks to the directors and actors to bring you background information that will make you appreciate each APT performance even more! Listen on Apple Podcast or Spotify! Produced by Buzz Kemper, Audio for the Arts.
Director Tim Ocel and actors Brian Mani and La Shawn Banks discuss the 2024 production of King Lear by William Shakespeare at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Enhance your experience and appreciation by listening to this lively interview before or after your theater visit.
King Lear Playlist
Gregg Coffin, Sound Designer and Composer on APT's Production of King Lear, put together a playlist with songs that inspired his music for the production, reminded him of the story in general or have connections to this now 419 year old play.
Reviews
Tell me you love me by Linda Falkenstein, Isthmus
A skillful and unsentimental ‘King Lear’ at American Players Theatre by Stephanie Kulke, Chicago Stage and Screen
APT's tempestuous 'King Lear' conjures up a perfect storm by Rob Thomas, The Cap Times
Villains By Necessity: A Review of "King Lear" at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin by Mary Wisniewski, NewCity Stage
Season Select: King Lear
Fast Facts
Playing: Hill Theatre | August 9 - September 28
Featuring: Brian Mani, La Shawn Banks, Nathan Barlow, Jim DeVita, Rasell Holt, Chiké Johnson, Jessica Ko, Josh Krause, Samantha Newcomb, Nancy Rodríguez, Ronald Román-Meléndez and Triney Sandoval
Genre: Shakespeare Tragedy
Last Seen at APT: 2016
Go If You Liked: Hamlet (2022), Oedipus (2021), Macbeth (2019), Death of a Salesman (2016)